The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for interpolation of images, and in a particular example to de-interlacing of video signals using spatial interpolation.
In an interlaced video signal, a frame is built from two interleaved fields which correspond to two separate times, typically 1/50 or 1/60 second apart. The aim of de-interlacing is to interpolate alternate lines in each field so that a whole frame of information is available at each of the two times, making a progressive output signal.
There are several known methods of de-interlacing, as described, for example, in “De-interlacing—an overview” by G. de Haan and E. B. Bellers, Proc. IEEE, vol 86, no 9, September 1998, pp 1839-57. In one method, the missing lines in each field are simply copied from the other field in the input frame. This method gives a correct result if the input picture is static or if the two fields in the frame have been scanned from a single frame of film. However, this method produces disturbing artefacts if the input is a moving video sequence, because the interpolated lines are being displayed at the wrong time, resulting in a double image whose spacing depends on the speed of motion. These artefacts can be reduced or removed by measuring the motion of objects in the picture and compensating for the motion when interpolating using information from other fields. However, motion compensation is costly, can be unreliable, and fails to bring useful information at so-called “critical speeds” when the vertical component of the motion is an odd number of frame-lines per field period.
In cases where motion compensation fails, it is necessary to have recourse to spatial interpolation, using information from the current field. Spatial interpolation may be combined with temporal methods, either in a linear spatio-temporal filter or in an adaptive scheme involving switching between methods that make more or less use of spatial and temporal information. In lower cost systems, the use of spatial interpolation alone is an attractive option.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of spatial interpolation.